Monday, September 11, 2006

Introduction: The first issue is finally finished. From now on I will probably be rotating the newsletters I produce once every month, between the Three Newsletters I produce. This is because of limitations on my time and other work and I simply don't have time to produce all three newsletters every month. So in one month I will produce and distribute Dante's Ninth (Personal newsletter), in the following month Opus Magnus (the Art and Science and Religion newsletter) and in the third month the Difference Engine (my new Business/Financing/Investment/Brokerage newsletter). There is also a chance I will be asked to handle my church newsletter and blog but that should not interfere with these newsletters. Thank everyone for being so patient, I have had a lot to do recently.

I look forward to presenting these newsletters in the hopes they may help you as well as me, and that they may also be interesting and even profitable to my readers. Remember that one of the major reasons for the existence of these newsletters is to provide access points for networking, contacts and the development of enterprises and projects of all kinds. Comment about anything you wish, develop projects as you wish and form partnerships and networks as you wish. These newsletters are to foster new ideas and to encourage innovation, and to help establish new contacts. Use them to your advantage and to the advantage of others.

If you know of anyone else who would like to receive this or one of the other newsletters then please let me know.

First of all let me congratulate TR on his writing competition win. Well done.

Quotations:

"On the road to Mandalay Where the flyin' fishes play, An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the bay." Kipling

"But wherefore thou alone? Wherefore with theeCame not all hell broke loose? Is pain to themLess pain, less to be fled, or thou than theyLess hardy to endure? Courageous chief,The first in flight from pain, hadst thou allegedTo thy deserted host this cause of flight,Thou surely hadst not come sole fugitive." Milton

"In words as fashions the same rule will hold,Alike fantastic if too new or old:Be not the first by whome the new are tried,Nor yet the last to lay the old aside." Pope

Purpose: The purpose of this Newsletter is to review and critique presentations of work submitted by the various Contributors.

Legal Notation: Any work or works submitted by an Author, Inventor, Designer, Artist, Originator or Contributor to this newsletter shall be considered the sole intellectual property of that Originator or Contributing Party and any and all rights shall accrue towards or remain absolutely and in total with that individual or individuals. All reviewers have the right to critique, review and criticize any submission but all rights to control, future release, future reproduction, reprinting, publishing as well as potential profit generated by the work shall remain with the originating party, and solely with the originating party. Submission of a work which is included in this newsletter shall be considered as constituting a declaration of copyright, trademark and/or registration of the work submitted, whichever form of protection or protections is most appropriate.

Précis or Synopsis: This is the format or brief summary I use for the creation and writing of long fictional works or books of fiction. I call it my WRITING PROGRAM. It helps to structure my works of fiction. I use a modified form of the same basic format, adjusted to need, for the writing of Articles, Interviews, Non Fictional Works or Books, and Longer or Epic Poetry. I also use something similar for the development of Artistic Compositions and for Musical Compositions as well as some Gaming Material, if such compositions and materials are complex enough. I will list those other programs and formats in later editions.

a. use strong sensory action verbsb. expand images/symbols in chapters and throughout the bookc. use much dialogue actiond. lead and imply, do not explaine. use specific languagef. Do Not Revrite until Entire Manuscript Complete

Précis or Synopsis: This is part of an introductory section dealing with a genre story of mythic fantasy. It will include mythopoetic sections. It takes place on a world which is a geographic duplicate of our world, circa 800 A.D. However this other world is inhabited by very different creatures and biological organisms, and the only humans that exists on this other world have immigrated from our world. The most powerful nation/state in this other world is ruled by a creature who is natively called the Samareül of Samarkand, and whose personal name is Jhönarlk. The Samareül is both Chief Political ruler and High Priest of his nation. The Samareül has sent representatives from his world to the Byzantine Roman Court of Constantinople. The Byzantines refer to Jhönarlk as Prester John.

INTRODUCTION

Jhönarlk stepped out onto the parapet of the Eastern Tower. He looked out over the grounds as far as he could see and then turned his gaze towards the buttresses that flew from tower to tower and building to building in the complex. He heard the rustle of tarue embroidery behind him and turned to see his chief advisor moving towards him.“What news?”“Another was found last night lord.”“Where?” Jhönarlk asked, afraid of the possible answer.“The Traemarelon isles, in Massunelia.”“Halfway around the world?”“Yes sir, halfway around the world.”“And the prognosis?”“Unknown sire, completely unknown. Would you like to arrange for extradition to our facilities? We are in a better position to study the creature, and possibly assist.”Jhönarlk waited a long while before answering. He turned back to look over the defenses, his greyish skin seeming to reflect the clouds far away, near the horizon. Those clouds however were rapidly darkening, becoming heavier and stooping towards the ground as they swelled with rain. Or did they swell with something else? In any case a storm was coming. He leaned against the stone wall as if bracing himself, wondering if he himself darkened as each uncertain day passed, growing fat with dire indecision.“What would you advise me to consider Creishar?”“It is your decision lord.”“Yes, yes it always is. Samarl help me, but it always is. The trouble is my friend I no longer know what to do. Perhaps I have never known. This...this unknown thing...,” Jhönarlk almost whispered, rubbing his hands through his hair as if to implant some vision of understanding within the globe of his own mind. “What must be done? Elturgy may be the death of us all, yet how can we possibly live without her?”“I do not know lord, and I am not so sure anyone knows anything in this matter, but since no one else will act perhaps it is just as well that the decision lies with you, and you alone. A thousand voices are no more righteous than one, and often far less wise than one man who is determined. You are Samareül of Samarkand. You are Prester of Kitharia. You will decide.”Jhönarlk shook his head slowly, still gazing out at the approaching clouds. He started to speak, then stood upright into the gathering wind. “What else?”“Well, lord, I have only partial intelligence, but it seems that a method may have been discovered into the other world.”“Discovered?” The Prester asked dubiously. “Or just fortuitously appeared?”“I cannot say lord,” the advisor looked directly at his king.“Is there no one who can say? What of Aerthir on Avalon? Any on the Isle of Wight?”“Our agents have interviewed and questioned them many times. No wight seems to know. They are not even absolutely sure how they arrived here.”“Damn this ignorance on my part!” Jhönarlk exploded loudly.“Ignorance on all our parts lord, you are no exception. Only Samarl knows for sure and we have tried often to know his will and are still no more certain than when we began.”The king reached out his hand and placed it gently upon his advisor’s shoulder. “You try my friend; you try to comfort me. But I am only one Lorahn and my desire greatly exceeds my grasp. And that seems a strangely familiar condition, as if it were the only kind of desire I can ever remember.” Jhönarlk seemed to grasp for a moment that he had said aloud something important, something he should understand, as if a prophecy. But as he struggled to grasp it, his advisor shattered his intuition with a more immediate and perhaps even more vital question.“What then will we do lord if we do find a way into the other world?”The Prester opened his hands in either a gesture of supplication, or one of resignation. “We will go my friend. Samarl help us, but we will go.”Jhönarlk turned and walked back towards the entrance to the outer tower, seeking shelter from the wind, which had suddenly turned chill. “Creishar, send a party to the Isle of Wight, see if they can entice the Knight Gaewaen to visit us. He has always been friendly towards us and he may know more of these matters than is apparent upon first sight.”Creishar nodded his head in acknowledgement.“Now come friend, come inside with me, a storm approaches and neither one of us are ready yet to meet it.” Creishar followed his king into the palace and shut the door behind him, as if to gainsay the creeping gale, but the wind continued, oblivious to it all.

Précis or Synopsis: See Separate E-mail - Young Girl: pen and ink sketch in small notebook. This is a brief, quick profile sketch I did of a young girl in my oldest daughter's art class. I sketched her without her knowledge from the hallway outside the classroom.http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/JWG/YoungGirl.jpg

Précis or Synopsis: See Seperate E-mail - The Dying Gaul: Graphite pencil sketch in my notebook on prepared paper. Sketch is taken from a photograph slide of the Roman bronze copy of the original Greek sculpture. Unfortunately because the sketch is in graphite it did not scan well and even in grayscale the shading and various other features are not visible or are barely visible. Sketch was done while my daughter was in art class this morning and I did not have time to complete it so it is unfinished. Second sketch made same morning of same subject.http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/JWG/DyingGaul2.gif

Précis or Synopsis: If it moves too quickly to be perceived by the wise then it will be invisible to the blind.

A MAN ONCE SAID...

A man once said to me,“No matter where you standYour center will be everywhereIf you but understand.”

And so I did reply,“If what you say is trueThen I must let you know,That when you have not said your peaceThen I must let you go.”

“I do not think the gravity,”As he continued on,“Of what I have just said to youWill orbit you for long.”

I thought about his mannerHis puzzle and his words,And then it all came crashing inOf everything I heard

You see my friends we circleInvisibly at firstWhat we do not yet recognizeFrom the moment of our births

And in that unseen orbitAs massive as can be,There sits a force of patienceFar older than the seas

There sits a watching WatcherHe never seems to moveAnd yet the worlds all orbit himAs stars become his womb

He eats all things around himAbsorbing as he growsNo one will e’er escape himNo matter where they go

And so the running’s uselessIt’s best to turn and watchAnd if you learn the secretThen everything will stop

For massive bodies attractBut deep within’s the trickFor nothing is invisibleTo he who is that quick

So when you see the darknessInhaling all the lightDo not mistake appearanceFor what you’ve seen at night

A secret is a secretTo he who never knowsBut secrets have their reasonsAs secrets sometimes show

And if you know the centerOf everything that isYou cannot lose your orbitAnd nothing is amiss.

Debate/Forensics/Polemics:Rhetoric/Speech/Oration:Journalism and Correspondence:Academic/Scholarly:Games and Game Design (work included in separate submission, separate attachment, or separate Internet address.):

Play Extracts:

Comedy:

Drama:

Script Extracts:

Comedy:

Drama:

Jokes/Humor/Satire:Neologisms:Musical Compositions (may include score or audio file or both - work included in separate submission, separate attachment, or separate Internet address.):

Précis or Synopsis: See Attached Audio file - This is a piece I wrote for Guitar, Mandolin, Bass Guitar and Lute. I wrote it to commemorate the shooting and death of Kara. In order to compress into a small enough file to be easily sent by email I converted it into a MIDI audio file. I hope the sound quality will be good enough for you to listen to it and enjoy it. If you have difficulty hearing it then please let me know.

General Invention Idea(s):RELIGIONTheory Papers/Theories/Treatises/Essays:Morality:Sermons:Apologia:Philosophy:Doctrine and Dogma:Christology:Eschatology and Prophecy:Spiritualistics:Theology:Comparative Religion:SCIENCETheory Papers/Theories/Treatises/Essays:

Précis or Synopsis: A short essay arguing counterintuitively against modern assumptions of population control and reduction.

THE GENIUS OF MORE

"Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth..."

"I am seeking a man."Diogenes

After studying current population trends I realize that there are a couple of remarks I want to make concerning these matters. Points that I almost never hear anyone make in respect to these issues, but very important points to consider.First of all let me preface my remarks by saying that I do not agree with chronic, irresponsible population growth just because it can be achieved, either due to natural processes, genetic improvements, or by technological advantage. And mathematically there will of course be a point in time, and a demographic point at which all reasonable advantage has been delivered by population increase. At such a point I think that the objective should be a voluntary slowing of growth to achieve a more homeostatic demographic outcome. But that point may be a very long way away, dependent on how we use and discover resources in the future, or that point may become impossible to determine because of other factors. Man should just play it by ear on that point.But let me discuss several points which are never discussed regarding population and the inherent dangers purportedly proclaimed by "naturalists", forgetting that Man is both the supreme example of natural power on this planet, and the destined master of nature, by design.

First, my father made a remark to me years ago which at the time I did not realize the full import of, but I'm beginning to understand as I age. He asked me why you never heard about a genius like Albert Einstein anymore? I said I thought it was because they are so rare in history, only one such person being produced between every 100 and 500 years. "No," he corrected me, "it's because there are so many of them now-a-days, no one in particular really stands out." Over time I have come to realize that he is absolutely right. Of course mankind has never, even for a single minute been without some genius, some visionary, some paragon of brilliance, talent and catholic scope. But on the other hand, every so often, and ever so rarely, there comes to the fore a Da Vinci, a Shakespeare, an Einstein, an Archimedes, a Saint Francis. Or that is the way it has been for most of human history. But not anymore. Today we are awash in men like Gates, in scientific and technical brilliance of every kind, of geniuses of wisdom, of writers, of visionaries, prophets, futurists, inventors, etc., just as we are awash in a plethora of physically beautiful people (present company excluded of course). Why?The answer physically is simple, there are far more of us. Statistically this only makes sense. If one intention of human capability is to achieve more of it (capability) then greater numbers bespeak greater capacity. The same is true of intelligence, creativity, inventiveness and problem-solving ability. We produce so many geniuses of so many different kinds because we possess sufficient population density to support an output of greater numbers of geniuses. For an era and area of a relatively small population to produce an individual such as an Archimedes, or a Da Vinci is an impressive if not a prodigious feat. But when that population rises to a sufficient level of density it is almost guaranteed statistically to produce such individuals with comparative ease. It is a numerical process that feeds upon itself. Population density increases, communications become better as a result thereof, and as a result of more extensive contact as isolated populations are forced into contact by expansion. Stresses are put upon resources, which require genius to resolve; more genius is produced as population expands, which produces more genius (I am using the term genius loosely to denote all human activities of advantage and brilliance: invention, design, skill, intelligence, foresight, wisdom, etc.), which produces yet more problems to resolve. But at some point in the equation a balance will be reached in which the amount of genius produced by a population will equal the detrimental effects on any problems that same population could possibly produce. As a matter of fact there will actually come a day in which the amount of genius measured as an output of productivity in a given population will actually easily exceed any problem or series of problems which that same society could possibly produce. Supply, measured as genius, will exceed demand. Genius will become an inexhaustible commodity precisely because, in a physical and mathematical sense, the population density has made such an occurrence not only possible, but also possible and even highly probable. (At that point one might well expect a near Utopian future, and if Man were the mere result of mathematical genius then this could well be expected to be the significant outcome. Alas, I feel certain it will not be so. Man is not the equated result of his design; he is the exceeding of his Design. Should the supply of genius exceed demand then Man will either become stupefyingly bored and venture where he had best not, will turn with languor and laziness back upon his own worst instincts, or he will search out the problems of other Beings to resolve for the stimulation and challenge.)

Secondly, a relatively large population is necessary for both our Economic System as it now exists, and for our system of technology as it now exists. (I have a Theory that technological developments proceed through Four basic Stages; Physical, Mental, Psychological and Spiritual, with many sub-components thereof. I guess I'll have to add this theory to my list of Theory Papers now, which I must one day write.) But suffice it to say this economically: Without a sufficient population density no economic system can produce enough workers to produce sufficient levels of output and without a sufficiently wide enough variety of goods no system can produce enough consumers to consume accumulated production and reignite and restimulate demand. (Or to maintain a steady demand curve which prompts continual improvements in the nature and function of goods and services, thereby inadvertently maintaining a steady increase in the rate of production to account for and exceed demand. This same process also prevents market and "Goods stagnation" because such a system is always in demand of not only renewable goods and resources, but is constantly pressuring the markets to produce superior goods and resources!!) Without a sufficient population density no system can produce enough sellers to warrant competition for distribution and market share. In this respect one can look upon distribution and market share in the same way that one could look upon Naval Exploration in the days of Columbus. Expansion, expansion, expansion. And expansions in distribution are driven by forces of efficiency and sufficiency which demand constant increases in communications and logistical brilliance which has a reciprocal effect upon genius, which spurs more competition, better usages of resources, more precise targeting of markets, wider variety of goods, higher productivity, better and more effective capitalization and the process continues thus nearly ad infinitum. (By the way, it should also not be overlooked that as genius increases throughout society this has a direct impact on the variety of goods produced. For instance, as just one mundane example, think back to the days before you owned a personal computer. Before the PC came along there was no effective outlet for the genius by which you now employ your machine. But now that it exists you can imagine all kinds of new applications and uses for your computer can you not, which spurs market demand for variety and for the usage of newer and more widely varied technologies. Variation spurs genius to new connections, and genius spurs variety to new embodiments.)

Yet these arguments are never expressed, that I know of, by anyone who considers population increases as of immediate and reflexive danger. Furthermore, such arguments properly put, almost demand increases in population at least to a certain point, and to a certain effect. I need not even mention the obvious production level benefits which have accompanied population increases, such as smaller and smaller areas of land being needed for devotion to food production and output (our technology as it presently exists is no longer commodity driven, it is commodity-expressive. That is basic commodities of survival {except energy sources} have been basically mastered, which has begun a long tangential process of discovering and creating new technologies which are not survival-driven commodities, but rather psychologically driven commodities of human expression), enormous increases in work productivity rendering huge amounts of non-survival devoted leisure time, reciprocal trade market development, and I could go on and on mentioning other such related venues of benefit. Suffice it to say that all of these enormous advantages have been rendered directly or indirectly by large increases in the rates of human population. Without sufficiently large population densities, none of these advantages would have been realized, or none of them would have been realized to their full extent, at the very least.

Now, am I saying that we should all produce ten kids to replace our mates and ourselves? Not necessarily, but by the same token, I cannot necessarily say that such an undertaking is detrimental since we cannot accurately measure at this point what exact rate of population growth is needed to produce the types, varieties and quantities of genius necessary to make the consideration of such a problem moot. What I am saying, contrary to popular myth on this subject is this; In making a statement such as "There are too many of us in the World", we must first decide upon exactly how we wish to define the world, and exactly how we wish to quantify and measure man, his problems and his capacity for exceptional resolution. Are we billions of individual problems, each spawning new multitudes of liabilities, or are we billions of individual geniuses, each capable of spawning nearly limitless assets, of which a primary and most important asset is no less a thing, than more and better examples of ourselves?

Comments, Criticisms and Critiques:General or Group Advice: Networking Contacts and Opportunities: I am working with a local man right now, RK, in order to obtain possible contacts which might lead to a recording contract for a group which performs at my church, they play contemporary Christian music as well as Bluegrass music, and for my wife who has been asked to sing for them. Randy and I went to the same High School, though at very different times and he once worked as a record promoter in Nashville. I'm also going to see if Randy can perhaps help me establish contacts to expose some of my music to potential publishers.

I am going to be talking to Defense Tech about becoming an ongoing writer, researcher and contributor for their magazine as they are soliciting for new writers.

Prayer Requests/Assistance/Advice: For my wife and the church group with which she travels during her Mission Trip to the hurricane disaster area in Mississippi.

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Opus Magnus

is the Literary, Artistic, Scientific, and Religious Newsletter of my personal work productions. This on-line version is the redacted and excised versionof the original. All content unless otherwise noted or quoted is copyrighted, registered, or trademarked by me and is considered my sole intellectual property.

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The Opus Magnus is a literary newsletter which contains extracts from my works over a broad range of fields and disciplines. Most works presented are in the process of construction, or in the early stage of draft, and therefore incomplete or not yet in final form.